Fox Glacier & The Bates Motel

Fox Glacier, New Zealand – 12 February 2011 at 10:33pm
Kansas City, USA – February 12, 2011 at 3:33am

Today we woke up early to make our way to Fox Glacier. During breakfast I saw on the news that the “President” of Egypt has finally stepped down from power. I have some dear friends who are traveling the world in a year and they were recently in Egypt, you can read a blog post from their site about how the recent turmoil around the world has affected their trip...click here. Thankfully they have had the same good fortune that I have had while traveling.

I’m feeling a little out of sorts when it comes to the news. Since I’ve been traveling (Dec 6) I have watched TV maybe two times…this being number three. I read a paper for the first two weeks but haven’t picked one up since. I don’t check the news on the computer, I only use it to communicate back home. I’ve basically fallen off the face of the earth. My daily routine back home was to watch/listen to Good Morning America or the Today Show while I was getting ready for work (I would flip back and forth depending on the story), read the KC Star, USA Today and Yahoo News as well as listen to sports radio on my drive to work…I was completely saturated with the news…now, I’m completely disconnected. It’s good in a way but somewhat weird at the same time… When you are disconnected you begin to realize how many things go on in the world that don't really matter but get too much attention and some things that really do have an effect on peoples lives and get zero publicity...
 

So, we loaded the bus (again –We ride on the bus A LOT! I’m getting a little tired of packing, unpacking and repacking – I don’t know how Scotty and Lance do it) and made our way to Fox Glacier via the Canterbury Plains and the Southern Alps. We stopped for lunch in Hokitika which is known for a Jade Factory. You can watch the carvers working on the jade in the shop. I took a walk down to the beach as well. It was full of drift wood… someone actually made a Hokitika sign out of it.

After our lunch break we got back on the bus and ended our destination in Fox Glacier. We arrived late in the day and unloaded our gear and made our way to our rooms (same roomies again). To put it nicely this is not the nicest accommodation we have stayed in…in fact it is mildly scary…ever seen the shower scene in Psycho?

We had about 10 minutes to drop our bags if we wanted to go on a nature walk around Lake Matheson, a local lake that has a beautiful view of the mountains if the weather is clear. It takes about an hour and a half to complete the walk. It was again, amazing. The lush ferns and vegetation made for a serene and peaceful atmosphere. On a clear day you can see the reflection of the mountain in the lake...unfortunately it was cloudy but it was still an amazing view.

After our walk we went back to the Bates Motel for dinner and to listen to an English duo sing Irish music…I know right, this story is getting more and more bizarre with each passing sentence.

The group had a little contest to see who could name the instrument that the girl of the duo was playing and the prize was a CD. Between Scotty and me we were able to name it…An Appalachian Dulcimer…random I know…but we won a CD which I let Scotty have sole possession of…it was his cell phone I used to Google it.

Now it’s off to sleep (with one eye open) to get ready for a helicopter ride tomorrow…I hope. It is the worst weather we have had so far…rain, rain, rain…if it continues we might not get to go up in the chopper…crossing my fingers and giving it and old Hail Mary.

Additional Photos: Christchurch to Fox Glacier